Ernest's planet (P3X-972, later PB2-908)
Summary
P3X-972, later PB2-908 was the location of Heliopolis, a meeting place where the alliance of four alien races met. It was also where Ernest Littlefield was stranded after an experimental Stargate mission in 1945.
Factoids
- Names and Designations: P3X-972; PB2-908; Ernest's planet; Heliopolis
- Number of Suns: One
- Number of Moons: None
- Source of Address: records of 1945 trial and error experimentation of addresses
- Introduced in Episode: 1.11 "Torment of Tantalus"
- Earth Cultural/Technological Equivalent: Advanced alien cultures
- Main Interest: Search and Rescue
- Influenced/Dominated by: Asgard; Ancient; Furling; and Nox
- History of Stargate: Unknown
Stargate Glyphs
Geopolitical Structure and History
The Stargate was located within a large stone castle on a planet with a very hot climate. The sea on the planet eroded the shoreline so much that the castle now sat on a cliff overhanging the water. A terrible storm swept through the area every year. From the annual storms, the castle had become very battered. Near the castle, fruit or nuts were able to be foraged for eating. No native people lived on the planet.
The castle was presumably built by one or more of the four races that used the planet as a meeting place. Here, a chamber contained a large device that created a hologram showing the basic elements that make up the universe...the building blocks of commonality to indicate a true universal language. The device continued to produce many pages of materials. On the walls of the chamber, four distinct languages were shown, depicting each of the four races. Daniel Jackson recognized the Norse ruins typical of the Asgard language. The other three were later revealed to be the languages of the Ancients, the Nox, and the Furlings (2.16 "The Fifth Race").
During experimentation with the Stargate in 1945, the American military was able to reach P3X-972/PB2-908 through cold dialing. On June 11, 1945, they sent through one scientist, Ernest Littlefield in an underwater suit complete with umbilical. When the event horizon inevitably disengaged, they feared Littlefield dead and ended the experiments. Littlefield ended up stranded on the planet for forty-five years.
When the Pentagon was declassifying some archived material, they came across information on the 1945 experiments and forwarded them to Stargate Command. Daniel Jackson reviewed the data, including film footage of Ernest going through the Stargate. Daniel approached Catherine Langford, who was instrumental in restarting the Stargate program and whose father was part of the 1945 experiments. Catherine revealed Ernest was her fiancé and that she never knew the Stargate had been opened. With General Hammond's permission, SG-1 visited P3X-972/PB2-908 with Catherine Langford to see if they could discover what happened to Ernest.
They found Ernest, naked in the hot climate and believing his rescuers were hallucinations. The man had imagined Catherine had been with him to cope with his isolation of over forty-five years. He had marked each day off on a calender since his arrival and spent a lifetime studying the alien library. SG-1 questioned why he had never attempted to use the Dial Home Device, but when they approached it, they discovered that the DHD was broken, and had been since Ernest's arrival.
While Sam Carter and Teal'c tried to fix the DHD or at least revert power back to the Stargate for a manual dial, Ernest showed the others the library, and Daniel instantly became enchanted by the knowledge found there. Although Sam and Teal'c were making progress on rerouting power, part of the unstable foundation of the castle crumbled and the DHD fell through the floor, disappearing into the sea below. Over Daniel's objections, they tried to destroy the library console to scavenge the power for the Stargate; nothing happened.
Desperate to leave before the storm destroyed the rest of the crumbling building, they created a lightning rod that they set at the highest peak of the castle, the brass helmet from Ernest's underwater suit at its top. The electrical surge was wired to the Stargate and they manually dialed the way back home. Daniel, still obsessed with the library, told them to leave without him. Ernest's entreaties that the information was worthless with no one to share it with and Jack's insistence finally convinced Daniel to leave with them. Jack and Daniel followed the others through the Stargate moments before the castle fell on top of them and the wormhole disengaged. Repeated dialings back to the planet met with no success, and the Stargate and library are believed destroyed.
Littlefield's research and Daniel's recordings were preserve and studied at Area 51 (2.14 "Touchstone").
Episodes
Gallery
Related Characters
- Col. Jack O'Neill
- Dr. Daniel Jackson
- Capt. Samantha Carter
- Teal'c
- Dr. Langford
- Dr. Catherine Langford
- Dr. Ernest Littlefield
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--Aurora 22:19, 12 December 2006 (PST)